RateMyProfessors.com

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Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome To the RMP FAQ. Click on a Question and view the Answer on the right.

General Questions

What is the purpose of this site?: Answer:
The purpose of the site is to be a resource for students. Where else can you find out what others think of an instructor? When you have the option of choosing a teacher, wouldn't you really like some information? It also gives you, the user, a place to voice your opinion. It gives you a place to make a difference in your education.
How much does this website cost me?: Answer:
Nothing! The site is free to use.
Do I have to give you my name or email address? I don't want any trouble from my teachers or the administration.: Answer:
You are not required to log in or enter your name or email address.
I've seen 'Want to login or Create an account?' on my school's page. What's that all about?: Answer:
NO ONE has to have an account to use the site, but creating an account will allow you to track and edit your ratings. After your account is created, you can login to it. We get quite a few emails from people who made a mistake in rating their teacher and want us to change them. WE don't change someone's rating. We can delete the entire rating or delete the comment, but we won't change them. This option gives the user a way to make sure their ratings are correct. We have a lot of changes planned. Some of them will be for members only, so if you want to use the site to its fullest, be sure and create an account.
What do teachers think of this site?: Answer:
Well, that depends on the teacher!! We get a lot of emails from teachers telling us they like the site, and we've even had some telling us how the site has helped them. We also get some pretty hateful emails telling us how inappropriate the site is, how they are going to shut us down, etc.
Don't students use this site just to get even with their teachers? Aren't most of the ratings negative?: Answer:
Absolutely not. You might be surprised to learn over 65% of the ratings are positive.
Who are you and why do you have this site?: Answer:
We are just common, ordinary people who believe that students are the CUSTOMERS of professors - and we believe they absolutely have a right to voice their opinions.
I'm a professor and the ratings don't accurately reflect student opinion of my teaching.: Answer:
The best thing you can do is write an article about the site in your school paper. This ALWAYS has a huge impact on the number of ratings and makes the site become less entertainment oriented and more of a resource for helping you plan your class schedule. Other things you can do is post flyers around campus, post links to the site on message boards that are school-related, and email your friends about the site.
How do I cancel my account?: Please email us and provide the email address you provided when the account was created.

Rating On RateMyProfessors

How do I 'RateMyProfessors'?: Answer:
We've tried to make this site as quick and easy to use as possible. You can select your school by picking your state or province from the drop-down list on the front page. You'll then see a list of schools; just click on your school's name to bring up the list of professors in that school. If your professor is listed on your school's page, click on the name and rate them. If your professor is not listed, there is a link to where you can add and rate them.
What are your rater guidelines? What is acceptable?: Answer:
Please see the guidelines here.
How do the scores work? I don't think Easiness is a good thing - why is it part of the rating?: Answer:
All categories are based on a 5 point rating system, with 5 being the best. The Overall Quality rating is the average of a teacher's Helpfulness and Clarity ratings, and is what determines the type of "smiley face" that the teacher receives. A teacher's Easiness rating is NOT used when computing the Overall Quality rating, since an Easiness of 5 may actually mean the teacher is TOO easy. Please look here for more information on the rating categories.
Some of my comments got deleted. What comments are OK?: Answer:
Comments should be about teaching ability. New ratings are reviewed, and we reserve the right to delete comments OR an entire rating.
I gave a teacher a Hot vote but no chili pepper showed up. What gives?: Answer:
The chili pepper is based on the SUM of the "hot" and "not hot" votes, where hot is +1 and not hot is -1. A chili pepper only shows up if the sum is positive. If the sum is zero or negative, no chili pepper is displayed. In addition, we display negative sums as zero, because we're nice guys. :)
How soon are my ratings posted?: Answer:
Immediately!
What if I see an error with a teacher, like if their name is spelled wrong or even if they aren't a real teacher?: Answer:
After you click on a teacher, you will see 'Report error with this teacher listing' at the top of the page. Just click on that link and tell us what is wrong.
What if I see a rating that I think should be reviewed again? I know you said you review all ratings, but what if you miss one that is not OK?: Answer:
You are right - every now and then a bad rating gets by us. You will see a red flag associated with each rating. When you click on that flag, the rating is sent back to us to review again. If it should not have been accepted, we will handle it. If the rating is OK, we just approve it again. If the rating is flagged, and then re-approved, the flag disappears for that rating.
Are the ratings statistically valid?: Answer:
Not really. They are a listing of opinions and should be judged as such. However, we often receive emails stating that the ratings are uncannily accurate, especially for schools with over 1000 ratings. And, check out this article about a school administrator who checked the correlation of our ratings with the U. of Waterloo student reviews.